Speaker of the House Paul Ryan received nearly $500,000 in contributions from one of the billionaire Koch brothers and his wife 13 days after after the House passed its version of the Republican tax bill, according to a campaign finance report released last week.

The International Business Times and other publications reported Charles and Elizabeth Koch each donated $247,000 to Team Ryan, the joint fundraising committee that raises money for Ryan's campaign committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and a separate political action committee that Ryan runs called Prosperity Action.

Charles Koch and his wife gave Speaker of the House Paul Ryan a half-million dollars after the Republican tax bill passed in the House.

Charles Koch and his wife gave Speaker of the House Paul Ryan a half-million dollars after the Republican tax bill passed in the House.

Photo: Bo Rader /Associated Press

Photo: Bo Rader /Associated Press

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Charles Koch and his wife gave Speaker of the House Paul Ryan a half-million dollars after the Republican tax bill passed in the House.

Charles Koch and his wife gave Speaker of the House Paul Ryan a half-million dollars after the Republican tax bill passed in the House.

"Republicans never hid the fact that this tax bill was about pleasing their big donors," Adam Smith, communications director at campaign finance reform nonprofit Every Voice, told International Business Times. "And it looks like House Speaker Ryan is quickly being rewarded for passing this legislation that overwhelmingly benefits the Kochs and billionaires like them."

The day after the Koch donations, Ryan transferred close to $1 million from Team Ryan to the NRCC; $488,000 to Prosperity Action; and $219,000 to his campaign. Ryan has been noncommittal about a report that he will leave Congress after this year.

Three pillars of the tax bill — big tax breaks for businesses and the wealthy, a special deduction for oil and gas investors (Koch Industries' petrochemical-based empire is the second largest privately owned company in the nation), and the repeal of the estate tax — all figure to pay off handsomely for the Kochs.

According to the Tax Policy Center, the top 1 percent wealthiest Americans will received 34 percent of the total benefits of the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Ryan's Democratic opponent in Wisconsin's First District, Randy Bryce, had this to say about what he called Ryan's pay-to-play scheme:

"I'm not sure what's worse: that Speaker Ryan sold his vote, that he pretended this tax bill was for the middle class, or that he proposed paying for the Kochs' billion-dollar tax break by cutting Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.

"Paul Ryan is putting billionaires and special-interest groups ahead of the people of the First District, and this quid pro quo with the Kochs is just the latest example."